Schumer...

Any plan to impose border fees on Canadians who enter the U.S. by foot, car or train will be dead on arrival in the Senate, according to U.S. Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-New York.

Sen. Schumer said during a conference call that the additional money would be a drop in the budget but a sledgehammer to upstate economies that rely heavily on tourism money. He highlighted the adverse effect the measure would have on the north country, saying it would put a serious dent in the fishing industry in Alexandria Bay.

The proposal, which was included in President Obamas fiscal year 2014 budget as a way to help reduce the national deficit, directs the commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection to conduct a study that would assess the feasibility of establishing and collecting a border-crossing fee for pedestrians and vehicles along the northern and southwest borders of the United States, according to a statement released after the conference call.

If this border fee were to become law, we might as well be putting Stop signs at every border crossing and train headed for Upstate New York. While the Presidents budget has a lot of great ideas, I will never allow Upstate New Yorks economy to be sacrificed to raise a buck: these fees are dead on arrival in the Senate, Sen. Schumer said in the release.

The amount of the fee would be determined by the study.

Reps. Peter F. Welch, D-Vt., and William L. Owens, D-Plattsburgh, are urging the Department of Homeland Security to abandon the study and have written to Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano expressing their opposition to the cross-border fee proposal.

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